As is the case in many other conference tournaments, the No. 1 seed is nowhere to be found in the Big East tournament championship game. But there is one familiar squad still alive on the Big East tournament odds board — and that squad will face an upstart opponent that just eliminated the No. 1 seed in blowout fashion.
Can second-seeded Villanova cut down the nets in this event for the sixth time in school history — and third time in the last four years? Or will No. 4 seed Creighton cap off an impressive run at Madison Square Garden in New York with its first ever Big East tourney title?
Multiple oddsmakers provided insights on opening/current lines and action in the Saturday Big East Tournament betting market. Check back with Props.com throughout the day for line moves and action updates.
Big East Tournament Odds and Betting Action
Creighton vs No. 8 Villanova (6:30 p.m. ET)
UPDATE 6 P.M. ET: Villanova has been pinned to -6.5 in WynnBet’s Saturday Big East tournament odds market, not budging off that number all day. Creighton is seeing 63% of bets and ‘Nova 60% of money on the spread. The total opened at 129.5 and midmorning bottomed out at 128, where it remains now. The Over is getting 79% of tickets, but just 55% of money.
UPDATE: 11:15 A.M. ET: It’s not often that a team wins a conference tournament semifinal game without scoring a basket in the final five minutes of action, but Villanova managed to pull off that feat Friday night.
In what was a tightly contested affair almost the entire way, Villanova (25-7 SU, 16-15-1 ATS) held off No. 3 seed and 20th-ranked UConn 63-60, barely cashing as a 2.5-point favorite. Since losing at UConn on Feb. 22, the Wildcats have won four in a row, with three of those victories being by a total of six points. One of those close calls was Thursday’s 66-65 come-from-behind quarterfinal triumph over St. John’s as a 6.5-point chalk.
Despite eking out the spread-cover Friday, ’Nova remains just 5-9-1 ATS in its last 15 games.
Unlike the Wildcats, Creighton (21-10 SU, 17-14 ATS) coasted to the championship game with a pair of double-digit victories. The most impressive was Friday’s 85-58 annihilation of No. 1 seed Providence as a 2.5-point underdog. The Bluejays put the game completely out of reach thanks to an incredible 31-2 scoring run that spanned both halves.
Creighton, which knocked off Marquette 74-63 as a 3-point pup in Thursday’s quarterfinals, is back in the Big East tournament championship game for the fourth time. However, the Bluejays have yet to cut down the nets, losing to Providence in 2014, Villanova in 2017, and Georgetown last year.
Creighton enters Saturday on runs of 9-2 SU and 8-2 ATS. During this stretch, the Bluejays are 6-1 SU and ATS as an underdog, with the only loss ironically coming at Providence (72-51).
These rivals have alternated victories in their last four meetings, with Villanova throttling Creighton 75-41 as a 10.5-point home favorite in this season’s lone clash on Jan. 5. Despite that result, the underdog is 6-3 SU and 7-2 ATS in the last nine meetings. Also, the straight-up winner has covered the spread in the past 15 series clashes dating to 2015-16.
Although Friday’s game against Providence soared over the total, the Under is still 4-1 in Creighton’s last five overall and 8-3 in its last 11 neutral-site games. The Under is also 4-0 in Villanova’s last four at neutral venues and 5-2 in the last seven Bluejays-Wildcats battles.
Villanova opened as a 7.5-point favorite (-120) at PointsBet USA on Friday night but the number has since dipped to -6.5. The early action at PointsBet suggests a potential Pros vs. Joes situation developing, as 66% of spread bets are on Creighton but 55% of the cash is on the Wildcats.
The total is down a hair from an opener of 129.5 (Over -115) to 129 flat, although 69% of the early tickets/79% of the early cash is on the Over.